Rich nations pressure eurozone, Japan

GET IN LINE:：Leaders of the G8 nations said Japan had to define a credible medium-term fiscal plan, while the eurozone had to work on establishing a banking union

Reuters, ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland

Wed, Jun 19, 2013 - Page 15

The eurozone came under pressure from other rich economies on Monday to press on with a banking union, and Japan was urged to follow up on massive central bank stimulus with structural reforms and measures to tackle its budget deficit.

Leaders of the G8 rich nations, which include Germany, France and Italy, said a further strengthening of the rules underpinning the eurozone, including moves toward a banking union, was “strongly needed.”

Eurozone finance ministers are due to discuss Europe’s banking union plans tomorrow, ahead of an EU leaders’ summit next week.

European officials are seeking to design a scheme to close troubled banks to complement a new system of cross-border supervision led by the European Central Bank from next year.

Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, has long worried that it could face potentially unlimited liabilities if countries in the single currency area pool their funds to cope with failing banks in the future.

In a statement which will form part of a final communique at a summit in Northern Ireland, the G8 leaders said the euro crisis had abated, but the single currency area remained in recession, underscoring the need for reform.

The G8 also said Japan needed to address the challenge of defining a credible medium-term fiscal plan.

“Japan’s growth will be supported by its near-term fiscal stimulus, bold monetary policy and recently announced strategy for promoting private investment,” it said.

“However, it will need to address the challenge of defining a credible medium-term fiscal plan,” it added.

After holding bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had made it clear that he would undertake structural reforms in the foreseeable future and return to budget consolidation in the medium term.

“For me, it was very important to hear that Japan is thinking very strongly about structural changes,” Merkel said.

The G8 statement said world economic prospects remained weak even though downside risks have lessened, due partly to policy action taken in the US, the eurozone and Japan.

“The US recovery is continuing and the deficit is declining rapidly in the context of a continuing need for further progress towards balanced medium-term fiscal sustainability and targeted investments to enhance growth,” the G8 leaders’ statement said.

Merkel recently appeared to clear the way for the next stage of a European banking union by accepting a “resolution board” involving national authorities to take decisions on winding up failed banks.

However, that would involve little or no pooling of risk and Berlin would be unlikely to accept any scheme that could empower a foreign agency to force the closure of one of its banks or require it to pick up part of the bill if a bank in Spain, for example, failed.